Every American’s Tragedy

It is an act that will live in infamy. Not only was the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil, but it was brought vividly into our homes with extensive and uncensored live television coverage that seared unforgettable, horrific images into our collective consciousness: fire, smoke, twisted rubble, mangled bodies, blood-covered victims, moans, screams, terror, confusion, and — most heart-wrenching of all — bleeding, dead, and dying children.

The fireball that erupted with such murderous ferocity on the Wednesday morning of April 19th exacted a terrible death toll. By the time President Clinton, the Reverend Billy Graham, Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, and the thousands of other mourners gathered on Sunday, April 23rd, to commemorate the victims of the atrocity, the toll had climbed above 80 and was expected to go still higher. Hundreds of people were injured — many seriously — and well over 100 were still unaccounted for in the building’s wreckage.

As terrible, however, as was the indescribable carnage of the actual bomb blast, perhaps even more disturbing to many Americans was the symbolism it evoked. “Terror in the Heartland” trumpeted the headlines in print and broadcast media from coast to coast. This was somehow not like the World Trade Center attack in New York City or the riots in Los Angeles; this vicious atrocity was carried out in America’s peaceful, rural Bible Belt, where such things are inconceivable.

Questions, Confusion

Distressing questions competed with our concern for the victims and the families of those who had perished or were still not accounted for. Was the bombing of April 19th the opening shot in a new round of terror aimed at America? Was it a signal of more to come? Why Oklahoma? Why Oklahoma City? Why the federal building? Why would anyone commit such a heinous act?

As burning a question as the why is, there is also the question of who. Who would perpetrate such a despicable deed? Who would target innocent civilians, especially babies and little children? To what purpose?

Although enormous amounts of press coverage have been devoted to these and other related questions since the blast occurred, too much is still unknown to provide conclusive answers. Unfortunately, much of the media treatment has actually served to obscure, confuse, and muddy the issues.

From the very first reporting of this horrendous crime, much of the media has acted irresponsibly, fueling hysteria with wild rumors and speculation and passing along unsubstantiated reports and erroneous “facts.” In the immediate aftermath of the explosion it was noticed that the April 19th date coincided with the second anniversary of the terrible fiery holocaust at the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas. This, together with the fact that the federal building housed an office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), was sufficient for reporters, news anchors, and various “experts” to divine that followers (or sympathizers) of David Koresh must have been involved.

At the same time, many also pointed accusing fingers at “Middle Eastern terrorists.” This track took the prime spotlight when it was widely reported that a dragnet was out for two suspects: two men in their 20s who appeared to be of Mideast extraction. Speculation ran wild. This was likely a retaliatory attack for the recent conviction of the World Trade Center bombers. Or for the recent extradition from Pakistan of a man accused of plotting to blow up U.S. passenger jets. Or — any number of other scenarios involving “Arab terrorists,” “Arab extremists,” or “Muslim fundamentalists.”

The Mideast connection appeared to be confirmed when news reports abounded that a Middle Eastern man from Oklahoma City was being returned from London, where he had been stopped while en route to Amman, Jordan. Some reports stated that items that could be used in bomb-making had been discovered in his luggage. The man turned out to be 32-year-old Ibrahim Ahmed, a Jordanian-born American citizen from Oklahoma City. The “bomb-making” tools turned out to be a pair of pliers, a frying pan, and other gifts for Ahmed’s friends and family.

Rush to Judgement

Just as quickly as it had alighted on Arabs and Muslims, however, the national opinion cartel shifted the blame game to another favorite target: “rightwing extremists.”

On Thursday, the day after the bombing, an intensive nationwide manhunt was launched for two white men who allegedly had rented the truck used to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building. Composite sketches of the men were released by the FBI, and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno announced a $2 million reward for information leading to the arrests and conviction of those responsible for the crime. Thus began an even wilder frenzy of “news” reporting filled with errors, misinformation, misrepresentation, political bias, and demagoguery, much of which has involved conscious tailoring of stories and commentaries by the leftist media elites to smear by implication, association, and outright accusation all those they consider to be on the “right.”

As we write (Tuesday, April 25th), guilty verdicts are already being handed down by the media meisters, establishment policy wonks, reckless officials, and feckless politicians. Not only are the suspects already “convicted” in the “court” of the fourth estate, but so too are the militia groups with which they are alleged to be connected — and all those who have contributed to the “climate of hate” responsible for this detestable deed, The latter category includes: those who oppose gun control, big government, taxes, and the United Nations; Republicans and conservatives; angry white males; anti-Washington “fanatics” in the West and Midwest; pro-life activists; “right wing” radio talk show hosts; people upset over the government’s handling of Waco; and those who believe in “conspiracy theories” and a threat associated with a “new world order.”

Yes, as far as most of the establishment media are concerned, the Oklahoma bombing is the result of a massive conspiracy of the “right-wing lunatic fringe” — a category of miscreants broad enough to encompass virtually everyone to the right of the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party. And this despite the fact that almost no factual evidence in the case has yet been verified. In the present climate this point cannot be over-emphasized. In the statements of officials and in the published news reports alone we have seen innumerable errors, contradictions, discrepancies, and inconsistencies. Many of these remain unresolved. Many questions remain unanswered, and still many more have yet even to be asked.

Opening Investigation

Realizing that even many of what seem to be the most reliable “facts” in this case so far may ultimately prove to be wrong, we have pieced together from public sources what seems to be the story on this infamous event.

The first real break in the massive investigation reportedly came with the finding of a charred axle with a vehicle identification number (VIN). The VIN on the axle led investigators to a Ryder rental agency in Junction City, Kansas, 270 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, where apparently the truck had been rented two days before by one “Bob Kling” of South Dakota.

Kling’s name, driver’s license, and address all proved to be false. However, employees at the rental agency were able to provide authorities with a description of “Kling” and a companion, from which FBI artists were able to create composite drawings of the two men, who would be referred to as John Does #1 and #2. Investigators were then able to find three witnesses who had seen one of the suspects — “John Doe #1,” later identified as a Timothy McVeigh — outside the building before the blast.

In its canvass of Junction City on Thursday, the FBI found the owner of a motel who recognized the composite of John Doe #1 as a man who had stayed at her motel for four nights and had checked out the morning of the bombing. He had left in a yellow Ryder truck. He had registered as Tim McVeigh and given a home address in Decker, Michigan.

On Friday, in what seemed an incredible stroke of luck, the prime suspect in the case, Timothy McVeigh, was found to be in the Noble County Jail in Perry, where he had been held since shortly after the explosion. According to various reports, he had been stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Officer Charlie Hanger for failure to have a license plate on his vehicle. After being stopped, he was found also to be in possession of a loaded, concealed weapon, a misdemeanor in Oklahoma. Due to a clogged court schedule, he had been held longer than usual before having a bond hearing. Reportedly, McVeigh was scheduled for his bond hearing and may have been only minutes away from release from jail when Officer Hanger recognized that he might be the John Doe #1 in the FBI circular.

Militia Connection

Meanwhile in Michigan, FBI agents surrounded a farmhouse near Decker reportedly belonging to two brothers identified in press accounts as Terry and James Nichols. James Nichols was questioned at his farm and then taken the next day to Oklahoma for further questioning. Terry Nichols turned himself in Friday afternoon to authorities in Herington, Kansas, where he lives. He was also taken to Oklahoma for questioning.

Neither of the Nichols brothers was charged in the bombing, but both were held as material witnesses. Various people identified as neighbors or acquaintances of the Nichols brothers were interviewed on television programs, including ABC’s Nightline, claiming that the brothers harbor a violent hatred toward the federal government, are tax resistors, were members of (or are “tied to”) the Michigan Militia, are adamant opponents of gun control, and have been known to experiment with bombs, using the same ammonium nitrate and fuel ingredients that may have been used in the Oklahoma bomb.

The connection between Timothy McVeigh and the Nichols brothers remains uncertain. According to some reports, McVeigh listed James Nichols as his next of kin when he was booked in Oklahoma. Other accounts report that McVeigh and Terry Nichols first met in the Army. McVeigh has been described in press accounts as one “enraged with the federal government over the deadly assault on the Branch Davidian compound,” though virtually no official word on the man has been forthcoming from authorities. On Saturday, April 23rd, dozens of federal agents descended upon Kingman, Arizona, reportedly the last known address of McVeigh and a center of activity for a militia group known as the Arizona Patriots. The following day FBI agents swept into San Bernardino, California to arrest a man identified in press reports as David Iniguez, age 23, reported as AWOL from Fort Riley, Kansas, the same base where McVeigh apparently had served. On Sunday evening, news broadcasts brought stories of another “suspect,” one Mark Koernke, a.k.a. “Mark from Michigan,” an individual who has leapt to national notoriety in the past year and a half with his sensational assertions on radio and in audio and video recordings concerning various plots for the impending takeover of the United States by the UN and federal officials.

Present Danger

At the time of this writing only McVeigh has been officially charged in the Oklahoma bombing. We are not certain of the extent of his involvement, nor do we know whether any other individuals or groups may have been involved. Together with all other decent human beings, we hope that all those responsible for this vicious act are found, convicted, and given the maximum penalty.

However, the media-led rush to judgement must be halted. The facts must be known and the evidence must be presented. And the individuals who are culpable punished. The broad-brush smearing of honorable organizations and whole segments of society who had nothing to do with this violent act must be opposed and scorned as the most contemptible calumny and political opportunism.

The loathsome violence committed in Oklahoma and all paths that lead in the direction of such lawlessness are rejected and condemned outright by all genuine Americans, not only because they are intrinsically evil, but because they also lead ineluctably to the imposition of even more oppressive government. In our recent article on the militia movement (February 6, 1995), we warned of this very danger, writing:

While the legal standing of many of the militia organizations may be uncertain, there should be no uncertainty about this: Bill Clinton, Janet Reno, Louis Freeh, and their federal minions can be counted on to fully exploit any and all incidents involving militias, and to be monitoring the actions and rhetoric of militia members. Together with the media, they will attempt to construct the spectre of a terrible armed threat amongst us. Unfortunately, there appear to be many in the ranks of the militia movement who will play right into their hands. And if that doesn’t happen on its own, the militias provide the perfect medium for federal agents provocateur to instigate outrageous offenses that can be used to justify even more draconian gun control laws and police-state repression.

We are indeed living in perilous times, times that demand of all patriots not only courage and steadfast determination, but also wisdom and perseverance. Those who are intent on transforming the United States into a socialist cog in a totalitarian new world order want, above all, to engender a spirit of despair, hopelessness, hatred, conflict, and anarchy. They want the law-abiding to give up on the constitutional system and to take rash courses of action and reaction that will label them as “rebels” and “enemies” of law and order. Those who fall into this trap are tragic fools. The right to keep and bear arms must be defended, yes. But free men can best preserve that right and every other by exercising the rights which they still have to speak, to write, to pray, to assemble, to vote, and to educate. We must stay the course and resist all temptations to despair or reckless folly.

Liberty at Risk

Our worst fears have come to pass. Among the most serious casualties of the Oklahoma City bomb blast is American liberty. As always happens in the wake of terrorist acts, the concern for public safety and the need to prevent similar future deeds provides grist for the mills of those who would erect a police state in the name of security. The most immediate and obvious beneficiary of the bombing is President Clinton and the globalist elites whose collectivist new world order agenda he is promoting. Like Clinton, who is lashing out at what he calls the “purveyors of hatred and division,” the vetted pundits are sliming “the right” in general and proclaiming the Oklahoma holocaust as a vindication of big government. Washington Post columnist David Broder sees in the Oklahoma tragedy “a demonstration of the positive value of government,” as if he believes the swill that he and his fellow propagandists have been peddling, that the recent conservative political shift is an expression of irrational “hatred” toward government per se rather than an earnest desire to dramatically scale government back and restrict it to its proper spheres.

Likewise, Los Angeles Times columnist Suzanne Garment declares that the Oklahoma tragedy proves “that Washington can indeed work — and fast.” “The most startling political fact of the disaster’s early aftermath,” she says, “is that government looked good. More specifically, President Bill Clinton looked good.” In similar fashion the talking heads and anointed “experts” of television newsland dispense a continuous blather to the effect that the Oklahoma City bombing proves their scariest fears about the dangers of the paranoid right and signals the need for the country to pull back from the conservative course on which it has recently embarked.

Especially, say these self-appointed voices of virtue and restraint, we must stop the “insane” attempt to repeal the assault weapons ban. If there is anything that drives collective liberaldom to their frenzied best, it is the thought that this recently passed legislation might be scratched from the books. Which is why the media disarmament lobby disingenuously manufactured a tempest in a teapot over a message faxed to freshmen Representative Steve Stockman (R-Texas), one of the prime movers behind the repeal effort. News stories ran across the country claiming that Stockman’s office had received a mysterious fax message before the bombing referring to the impending blast, and that he had not promptly turned it over to the FBI. Moreover, some reports claimed that Stockman had sent the fax first to the National Rifle Association.

The accusations, both implied and explicit, were that the new “gun nut” congressman had withheld information from those involved with the bombing, and that his commitment to the “gun lobby” and militia “wackos” may have prevented the FBI from receiving timely warning of the coming attack. At a press conference on April 24th, Stockman explained the facts: The fax had come into his office shortly after the explosion in Oklahoma, but before his staff was aware of the event. After learning of the bombing, his staff members thought the fax message might have some significance and brought it to his attention. He immediately turned it over to the FBI. At the press conference Stockman distributed a letter of April 24th from FBI Inspector John E. Collingwood verifying his story and thanking him for his assistance in the matter. But the press hounds were barking in unison and demanding blood; they didn’t want a logical and honest explanation that ran contrary to their agenda. They continued to insist that Stockman must have been involved in some nefarious activity.

Congressional Response

What is nefarious is the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995, introduced in the Senate (S. 390) on behalf of the Clinton Administration by Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.), ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and in the House (H.R. 896) by Representative Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the most virulent anti-gun fanatics in Congress. Immediately following the Oklahoma atrocity, the bill jumped from the slow lane to the fast track, with both Republicans and Democrats eager to jump aboard what appears to be a winning cause.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said in a statement on April 20th that the Senate would pass the legislation “at the earliest possible time.” In the House, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Larry Combest (R-Texas), said that “without question” the bombing means the bill should be enacted into law post haste.

The main opposition to the measure that has been recorded in the establishment press has been that offered by the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS), an ultra-left adjunct of the subversive Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). The main beef the CNSS has with the bill is a provision to allow the government to use evidence from secret sources in deportation hearings for immigrants suspected of terrorist involvement. Senator Biden, an ultra-liberal who is ever sympathetic to the IPS subversive agenda, has stated that this provision bothers him also and that he will work to see that it is removed.

This ploy is doubly diabolical. By focusing “opposition” on a pre-selected “problem,” and then “correcting” it, the anti-intelligence lobby not only preempts and deflects genuine opposition, but makes it more likely that its subversive and terrorist comrades from overseas will have all the legal tools at hand to thwart deportation. At the same time, the new powers sought for the federal government will, if provided, almost assuredly be used not against those violent and subversive organizations traditionally targeted by the FBI — communists, terrorists, fascists, Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen, Mafiosi, drug kingpins — but against those Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh consider the real “threats” to American security: gun owners, pro-life demonstrators, religious “extremists,” “anti-government” activists, tax protesters, UN opponents, hate crime “advocates” (i.e., those who oppose special rights for homosexuals), and other politically incorrect Americans the establishment media generally categorize as elements of the “extreme right wing.”

The new “counter-terrorism” legislation amounts to a prescription for the nationalization of much of the few remaining areas of criminal law that have not already been usurped from the states by the fedgov policeman. The bill, for instance, would expand the federal government’s wiretapping capabilities, increase federal access to bank accounts, and allow the President to designate as “terrorist” any group he finds “detrimental” to U.S. interests. It would also greatly expand the federal RICO definitions to make “willful injury of government property” or destruction of “any structure, conveyance or other real or personal property … in violation of the laws of any State” under the broad terms of the legislation, federal felony offenses with severe penalties.

Why We Are Vulnerable

According to the New York Times, the counter-terrorism bill was drafted by Janet Reno’s Justice Department. This is interesting in that it was Ms. Reno’s predecessor and ideological soulmate, Attorney General Edward H. Levi, who is in large measure responsible for the fact that America stands virtually naked before terrorist threats both foreign and domestic. In response to questions from news correspondents demanding to know why the FBI had not infiltrated and investigated various “right wing” groups being blamed for the deadly explosion, various terrorist “experts” have explained that under the restrictions imposed by Levi 20 years ago the FBI is prohibited from such investigations. That, of course, is just part of the story.

In 1975, in the aftermath of Watergate, President Gerald Ford appointed Levi as Attorney General and commissioned him with the responsibility of drawing up new guidelines for the FBI’s domestic intelligence operations. Levi, a longtime leftist, was a member of the communist-front National Lawyers Guild (NLG). Thus began one of the most incredible episodes in the history of American law enforcement: A citizen with longstanding affiliation with one of the most subversive, anti-police, anti-FBI organizations in the country being named to the highest law enforcement post in the land and put in charge of neutralizing the FBI.

Just how radical is the NLG? In 1950 the House Committee on Un-American Activities said of the group:

The National Lawyers Guild is the foremost legal bulwark of the Communist Party, its front organizations, and controlled unions. Since its inception it has never failed to rally to the legal defense of the Communist Party and individual members thereof, including known espionage agents. It has consistently fought against national, State, and local legislation aimed at curbing the Communist conspiracy. It has been most articulate in its attacks upon all agencies of the Government seeking to expose or prosecute the subversive activities of the Communist network, including national, State, and local investigative committees, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and law enforcement agencies generally.

The NLG has served for decades as the major U.S. section of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), an organization repeatedly identified in CIA, FBI, and congressional investigative committee reports as a leading Soviet front organization. In 1976 testimony before the House Subcommittee on Oversight of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the CIA classified the IADL as “one of the most useful Communist front organizations at the service of the Soviet Communist Party.”

Self-Destruction

Thus, it should have come as no surprise when Attorney General Levi presented his NLG comrades with a marvelous present: an eviscerated FBI completely gutted of its domestic surveillance program. The Levi handcuffs prohibited the FBI from investigating individuals and organizations unless it had information that a federal crime had already been committed or was about to be committed within the next 48 hours! Investigations had to be terminated within 90 days of initiation and the investigation files made available on request to those being investigated.

On top of all this, Levi’s subordinate, FBI Director Clarence Kelly, did everything imaginable to demoralize the FBI, including siding with the American Indian Movement terrorists accused of murdering two of his own agents, calling for the legalization of marijuana, and inviting the disreputable Police Foundation (an outfit founded and funded by the subversive Ford Foundation) to investigate the FBI’s own methods of tracking subversives.

In his 1979 book, Self Destruct: Dismantling America’s Internal Security, Judge Robert Morris described the alarming state of affairs after just three years of the Levi/Kelly mugging of the FBI:

FBI Director Clarence Kelly revealed in September 1976 that its internal security investigations had then dropped from 21,414 in mid-1973 to only 626 (78 organizations and 548 individuals) — an amazing ninety-seven percent cut. That number has dropped even more, according to a recent GAO report, to a mere 17 organizations and 130 individuals in the entire nation. GAO also reports that only 143 special agents are now assigned to domestic security work, compared to 788 in 1975, and that the Bureau today has only 100 informants compared to the 1,100 it employed two years ago.

In its powerful 1983 documentary, The Subversion Factor, the Western Goals Foundation warned that this reduction left the FBI with “an incredibly small force considering that, during the same period, the number of KGB agents under diplomatic cover and operating as journalists or businessmen, had grown to almost 2,000. In other words, there are about 14 times as many KGB agents in the United States as there are FBI agents to thwart them. And this is counting just foreign personnel. It does not take into consideration the much larger group of agents with American citizenship which also is part of the Soviet underground.” By 1985 there were only 15 active investigations being conducted by the FBI on domestic political revolutionary organizations.

State and Local Victims

There is still more to this story, however. For all its amazing resources and fabled prowess at crime detection, the FBI never was our only, or even our primary, defense against terrorism, crime, and subversion. In the days of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI was an integral part of an important state-federal-local network of law enforcement and investigative bodies that not only provided a multilayered defense against the forces of lawlessness, organized crime, espionage, terrorism, and subversion, but also furnished an essential system of checks and balances militating against a centralized, national police system.

In addition to other federal organizations involved in intelligence and internal security, most metropolitan police departments had their own intelligence divisions and many state legislatures had committees that investigated groups suspected of involvement in unlawful activities or associations with foreign powers or totalitarian ideologies. One after another, these investigative bodies and internal security assets fell victim to a sustained, concerted attack by the same forces. It is a frightening record:

• The Subversive Activities Control Board — terminated.

• The Internal Security Division of the Justice Department — terminated.

• The House Internal Security Subcommittee — terminated.

• The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee — terminated.

• The Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations — terminated.

• The counter-intelligence units of the Armed Forces — severely limited.

• The investigative committees of most state legislatures — terminated.

• The intelligence units of most state and municipal police agencies — terminated or severely restricted.

• The Immigration and Naturalization Service and Border Patrol — overwhelmed, undermanned, and severely restricted.

The Communist Party, the National Lawyers Guild, the Center for National Security Studies, the Institute for Policy Studies, the American Civil Liberties Union, and a host of other allied subversive groups working in concert with their ideological comrades in the media played a central role in the emasculation and destruction of these vital internal security mechanisms.

Rebuilding Domestic Defenses

The decades-long running battle by the militant left to dismantle all legitimate domestic intelligence was a roaring success. America has been left blinded, naked, unprotected. And the campaign to strip America of its defenses was carried out under the direction of IPS leaders Robert Borosage and Morton Halperin.

Last year The New American played a leading role in defeating President Clinton’s appointment of Morton Halperin to one of our highest Pentagon posts. (He was subsequently appointed to a senior post on the National Security Council.) For decades — in this magazine and in its predecessors, American Opinion and The Review of the News — we have led the fight to halt the suicidal destruction of our defenses and have campaigned to restore America’s internal security structures.

Now more than ever it is apparent that these defenses must be rebuilt. It should also be self-evident that we must not allow ourselves to be stampeded into embracing the false and dangerous “solutions” being offered by the very forces who have placed us in this jeopardy.